Last month I watched the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, with Tom Hanks portraying the beloved Mr. (Fred) Rogers. I must say it was a great movie, very insightful. It was somewhat nostalgic, but at the same time it made me think what a great human being Fred Rogers was and how much he influenced the world with his gentleness and sincerity.
The movie made me realize what an authentic human being he really was and how he also struggled like any of us do with life. What I think made him unique was that he wasn’t afraid to express how he felt, and this is exactly what he taught the many children who watched his show daily — not to be afraid to express their emotions about the many issues and situations they are faced with.
Who can forget the songs from the show? Remember this one? “So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day. Since we’re together we might as well say: Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor? Won’t you please, won’t you please? Please won’t you be my neighbor?”
Mr. Rogers also made us aware of the many people who will cross our path in life and how different we are, and that regardless, we are to respect one another and accept one another.
I find it tragic that sometimes children are not taught to share their toys with other children and that the playground doesn’t just belong to us alone. We need to learn to share, because we all belong to a neighborhood, a community.
One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Mr. Rogers was talking to a child through a puppet about anger and asked, “What do you do with the mad that you feel? When you feel so mad you could bite?”
For Mr. Rogers, it was important that children expressed how they felt, perhaps because in one way or another our childhood affects our adulthood and how we interact with one another. In reality the fact is that many times we lack the courage to love.
As I was watching the movie, it made me think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan as found in the Gospel of Luke (10:25-37) when Jesus responds to the question from the lawyer seeking eternal life, who puts Jesus to the test by asking, “And who is my neighbor?”
In the parable, Jesus reminds us that neighbor is the man (presumed to be a Jew) going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho who has been beaten and left for dead.
While he is first ignored by a priest and a Levite (both religious men), it’s the Samaritan (mixed descent) who stops and out of compassion helps, proving to be the true neighbor.
In November 2018, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a pastoral letter against racism: “Open Wide Our Hearts, the enduring call to love.”
Every good and conscientious Catholic should take the time to read it. The pastoral letter comes with a study guide and is available as a download at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/racism/
In the pastoral letter, the bishops write, “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and it corrupts the souls of those who harbor racist or prejudicial thoughts. The persistence of the evil of racism is why we are writing this letter now.”
The bishops invite all people of faith to conversion. They remind us that “we are called to open our minds and hearts to Christ’s love for all people and to the experiences of those who have been harmed by the evil of racism.”
Through this pastoral letter, the bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States desire to address racism as a destructive and persistent form of evil because racism still infects our nation.
The pastoral letter in the introduction begins by defining racism: “Racism arises when — either consciously or unconsciously — a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior, and therefore judges persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior and unworthy of equal regard. When this conviction or attitude leads individuals or groups to exclude, ridicule, mistreat, or unjustly discriminate against persons on the basis of their race or ethnicity, it is sinful.”
In the parable, the Samaritan did good, he did the right thing by helping someone in need. We are called to do the same, to love our neighbor.
May we never forget who our neighbor is. The good and gentle Jesus will remind us, we pray.
Deacon Luis Zuniga is the director of the Office for Pastoral Planning & San Juan Diego Ministry Institute.